Title: Spun
Genre: Comedy/Crime/Drama
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo, Mena
Suvari, Patrick Fugit…
Director: Jonas Åkerlund
Release: (2002)
Stop the world – I want everyone to get off except for me. Well, okay, not everyone. But whoever the scallywags are that swept this movie under the rug and kept me from seeing it four years ago, when it came out, I …want … them …OUTAHERE!
And, judging from the business records listed on IMDB (it premiered in America on March 16, 2003 on only ONE screen in America), I’m not the only one who was left in the dark.
What if I were to tell you that there was a thoroughly original, energetic and engaging movie starring (get this) Jason Schwartzman, John Leguizamo, Brittney Murphy, Mena Suvari, Mickey Rourke, and a whole, handful of rock-star supporting cast and cameo-makers like Debbie Harry, Rob Halford and Billy Corgan that is just gathering dust in the over-crowded ‘S’ section of your local video store right now - and that you’ve never heard of it? Well, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. I know, I know. Just take a seat for a moment until the room stops spinning, I can wait.
Ready? OK, so anyway, it’s called Spun, and it is a funny, fascinating, frenetic fit of a filmmaking that follows the lives of half a dozen speed-freaks and the people around them over the course of a few crazy/typical/unpredictable/non-stop/cranked-up days in Noplacetown, California (not named as such by the filmmakers). Most of the movie is spent following Ross (Schwartzman), a junkie who is drawn unwittingly from the consumer to the producer side of the meth trade when he falls in with a wild and dangerous California cowboy known simply as “The Cook”. Mickey Rourke absolutely commands the screen as “The Cook”, but everyone in this ensemble cast more than holds their own in every way.
Director Jonas Åkerlund deftly breathes life into this story, telling it through a seamless flurry of fast cuts, extreme close-ups and sudden distractions that suck the viewer right into the action by creating the sensation of being “spun” as hard as anyone they’re watching. Remarkably, Åkerlund is able to weave his own style of guerilla cinematography together so tight that it never once feels unnatural or distracts from the narrative at hand.
If I’ve learned one thing about enjoying movies, it’s that 75% of it is determined by your own expectations. I loved Scream 1 because I went in so completely expecting to hate it and I hated Scream 2 because I was so completely expecting to love it. I had the same problem, in reverse, with the first two X-Men episodes. So, I’m willing to admit that part of the reason I loved this movie may so much have had something to do with the ‘hidden treasure’ factor of the whole experience (and, possibly, because of the carte blanche I have unofficially granted Jason Schwartzman for the rest of his career ever since his defining role in Rushmore - the uncontestable greatest comedy of all time). Acknowledging this, and being the ethical journalist I took an oath before God and country to be, I’ll try choose my words carefully here, so as not to bias your own expectations and taint the experience for you in any way.
That said, I think it’s probably safe to say that, at the very least, seeing this movie will make you loved, adored and sexually desired by millions, solve all of your money problems forever, give you immortality and, possibly, the ability to breathe underwater. Not watching it will probably cause you some kind of recurring facial rash involving excessive puss and skin bubbling.
But, really, I just encourage you to just keep an open mind and judge this gem for yourself.
Grading
Story: A
Acting: A
Visuals: A+
Originality/Innovation: A
Enjoyability: A
DVD Extras: B
Overall: A
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